Bit by Bit 6th Jan || Walmart Gets $1 Billion Tax Bill For Shifting PhonePe To India & more

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MARKET UPDATE 

• NIFTY 50 : ₹18,042.95 (-1.04%)

• BSE SENSEX : ₹60,657.45 (-1.04%)

• NIFTY BANK : ₹42,958.80 (-1.07%)

• USD/INR : ₹82.667 (-0.13%)

• BRENTOIL : $78.13 (-4.84%)

• MCXGOLD : ₹55,688 (+0.56%)

• FII Net Cashflow : - ₹2621 crores

• DII Net Cashflow : + ₹774 crores

(Market Data as of 11:00 PM on 04/01/2022)

ECONOMY

Government Rises Paddy Procurement

Facts:

• Both the Kharif (Summer) and Rabbi (Winter) seasons are used to cultivate paddy. But the kharif season accounts for 80% of the nation's overall rice production

• The country's paddy output is expected to fall by 6% to 104.99 million tonne in the 2022-23 kharif season as the result of decreased average following bad rainfall.

The Story:

In the current 2022–23 Kharif marketing season, the government has purchased 541,90 lakh tons of paddy for the central pool, an increase of 9.58%, according to statistics from the food ministry. The top four states that contributed the most to the primary collection were Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, and Telangana. Paddy procurement typically starts in October. However, it begins in September in southern regions, particularly in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In the Kharif marketing season of 2022–2023, the government plans to purchase 775.72 lakh tonnes of paddy (October-September).

During the most recent Kharif marketing season, the actual procurement reached a record 759.32 lakh tonnes. According to official data, the total amount of paddy purchased jumped from 494.50 lakh tonne in the same period last year to 541.90 lakh tonne as of January 3 of the 2022–23 Kharif selling season. The amount of paddy purchased in Punjab decreased slightly from 187.12 lakh tonnes in the same period last year to 182.13 lakh tonnes so far this marketing year.

While the purchase of grain in Haryana grew to 58.96 lakh tonnes from 54.50 lakh tonnes, the buying in Chhattisgarh surged significantly to 82.89 lakh tonnes from 55 lakh tonnes. Compared to the same period last year, the paddy procurement in Telangana was lower at 56.31 lakh tonnes, while in Uttar Pradesh, it increased slightly to 42.96 lakh tonnes from 42.73 lakh tonnes. According to statistics from the ministry, Madhya Pradesh had a substantial increase in purchases, going from 22.42 lakh tonnes in the same period last year to 34.50 lakh tonnes so far this marketing year.

FMCG

Dabur acquires a 51% majority stake in Badshah Masala. 

The Story:

Dabur India has acquired a 51% stake in Badshah Masala, paving the way for the FMCG major to enter the branded spices and seasoning market. Badshah Masala manufactures, markets, and exports ground, blended, and seasonings. The acquisition is in line with the company's strategic intent of entering into new adjacent categories in the food space, Dabur had said earlier.

"Consequent to the above transaction, Badshah Masala Private Limited has become a subsidiary of Dabur India Limited w.e.f. Today, i.e., 2nd January 2023," Dabur said. With this, Dabur has entered into branded spices and seasoning market in India, worth over Rs 25,000 crore. The balance of 49% will be acquired after five years.

The acquisition is in line with Dabur's strategic intent to expand its Food business to Rs 500 Crore in 3 years. Dabur has an existing Foods portfolio and views ground and blended spices as an excellent addition to this portfolio. Badshah's portfolio will gain from Dabur's extensive distribution reach.

AUTOMOTIVE

At CES 2023, Google showed up as an automotive company

The Story:

But CES is a big car show, and Google also has products for automobiles. Today, it also told us that its higher-resolution maps will debut on the Polestar 3 and, for the first time since its announcement at I/O 2022, showed off the latest Android Auto interface to the public.

There were two vehicles at the Google booth at the Las Vegas Convention Center's trailer lot — a BMW i7 with the new Android Auto experience and a Volvo EX90 with Google built in. This was our first look at the Volvo itself, and we'll be putting up a separate hands-on about our experience with that in a bit. Our focus for this story (and video) is the new Android Auto.

TECH

Irish privacy regulator fines Meta more than $400 million

The Story:

On Wednesday, Ireland's data privacy authority penalized Meta 390 million euros ($414 million) for violations at its Facebook and Instagram services and ordered both companies to review the legal justification for their use of personal data for advertising across the European Union.

According to a confidential judgement seen by Reuters last month, the EU's privacy authority issued the directive on how both social media sites conduct advertising in December, overruling the Irish regulator's draft decision on the subject.

In response to new EU privacy rules, Facebook and Instagram changed their terms of service in 2018, and Meta attempted to rely on the so-called "contract" legal basis for the majority of its processing activities.

Instead of relying on users' agreement to the use of their data for targeted advertising as in the past, Meta believed that a contract was formed when users accepted the revised 2018 conditions, making such advertising legal.

The EU's privacy watchdog allegedly ordered the Irish regulator to launch a new probe into all of Facebook and Instagram's data processing activities as part of its judgment, according to the DPC.

Anything Interesting

Walmart Gets $1 Billion Tax Bill For Shifting PhonePe To India

Walmart Inc. and other PhonePe shareholders will have to pay nearly $1 billion in tax after the digital payments company shifted its headquarters to India. The bill stems from the relocation and rise in the value of PhonePe Pvt, which Walmart took majority ownership of after acquiring parent outfit Flipkart Online Services Pvt.

For years, technology companies with the bulk of their operations and business in India have chosen to incorporate in Singapore because of the friendlier tax regime, ease of getting foreign investments, and simpler processes for public debuts on foreign exchanges. It's an unusual step for an Indian startup to move home. PhonePe's shift could be a precursor to the digital payments company preparing for a stock market listing in India. India has over 26,000 startups making it the world's third-largest startup ecosystem according to the Asian Development Bank, and at last count over 100 of these were valued at $1 billion, making them unicorns.